David was the second king of the united Kingdom of Israel according to the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament. He is depicted as a righteous king, although not without fault, as well as an acclaimed warrior, musician and poet (he is traditionally c...

Solomon (Reign: 971 - 931 BCE, Born: unknown, Died: c.931 BCE) is described in the Hebrew Bible and later in the Qur'an, where he is described as a Prophet. The biblical accounts identify Solomon as the son of David. He is also called Jedid...

Jerusalem is the capital of Israel and its largest city in both population and area, with a population of 763,800 residents. The city has a history that goes back to the 4th millennium BCE, making it one of the oldest cities in the world. J...

Nebuchadnezzar II was a ruler of Babylon in the Chaldean Dynasty, who reigned c. 605 BC – 562 BC. According to the Bible, he conquered Judah and Jerusalem, and sent the Jews into exile. He is credited with the construction of the Hanging Ga...

Herod, also known as Herod I or Herod the Great, was a Roman client king of Israel. He was (descended from converts to Judaism) serving as a servant first. Described as A madman who murdered his own family and a great many rabbis. He is com...

Jesus (6–4 BC to 30–33 AD), also referred to as Jesus of Nazareth and Jesus of Galilee, is the central figure of Christianity, whom the teachings of most Christian denominations hold to be the Son of God. Christianity regards Jesus as the a...

Saint Peter (died c. 64 AD), also known as Simon Peter, according to the New Testament, was one of the Twelve Apostles of Jesus Christ, leaders of the early Christian Church. The Roman Catholic Church considers him to be the first pope, ord...

Paul the Apostle commonly known as Saint Paul and also known by his Hebrew name Saul of Tarsus, was an apostle (although not one of the Twelve Apostles) who taught the gospel of Christ to the first-century world. Paul is generally considere...

In the year 66 AD the Jews of Judea rebelled against their Roman masters. In response, the Emperor Nero dispatched an army under the generalship of Vespasian to restore order. By the year 68, resistance in the northern part of the province...

Sophronius was the Patriarch of Jerusalem from 634 until his death, and is venerated as a saint in the Catholic Church and the Eastern Orthodox Church. Before rising to the primacy of the see of Jerusalem, he was a monk and theologian who...

Baldwin I of Jerusalem, was one of the leaders of the First Crusade, who became the first Count of Edessa and then the second ruler and first titled King of Jerusalem. He was the brother of Godfrey of Bouillon, who was the first ruler of th...

Godfrey of Bouillon was a leader of the First Crusade. He was either the eldest or the second son of Eustace II, Count of Boulogne, and Ida, daughter of Godfrey III, Duke of Lower Lorraine. He was designated by his uncle, Godfrey the Hunchb...

The Crusades were a series of religiously-sanctioned military campaigns waged by much of Latin Christian Europe, particularly the Franks of France and the Holy Roman Empire. The specific crusades to restore Christian control of the Holy Lan...

In the early 11th century, the Egyptian Fatimid Caliph Al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah ordered the destruction of all churches and synagogues in Jerusalem. Reports of this were one cause of the First Crusade, which marched off from Europe to the area...

The Kingdom of Jerusalem was a Christian kingdom established in the Levant in 1099 after the First Crusade. It lasted less than two hundred years, until 1291 when the last remaining outpost, Acre, was destroyed by the Mamluks. At first the...